Pearson took up the sport in November 2005

Josie Pearson is set to create history at the Beijing Paralympics after being chosen in the Great Britain wheelchair rugby squad.

The 22-year-old from Hereford, who will be the first British woman to compete in the sport at the Games, has been named in a 12-strong squad.

Eight of the team represented GB in Athens in 2004 where they narrowly missed a medal after finishing fourth.

Among those is Andy Barrow, who has been named captain.

"It's a tremendous honour to be selected to represent my country. It's going to be my second Paralympics but this time I will be captain, which is a fantastic," he said.

"We came fourth in Athens and fourth again at the last world championships in 2006 so to win a medal would be fantastic. Personally I would like to see us reach the final."

Also among those named in the squad are Wolverhampton's Alan Ash, who will be appearing in his fourth Games, and Troye Collins, who regularly features among GB's top scorers.

Jonathan Coggan, Justin Frishberg, Ross Morrison, Steve Palmer and Jason Roberts, who all competed in Athens, have been selected again as GB get ready to begin their Paralympic campaign against New Zealand, followed by games against Germany and Australia

The team, which has just returned from the International Wheelchair Rugby Super Series in Australia, will travel to Canada to play in the Canada Cup competition, where the top eight ranked teams in the world will battle it out for the title.

The wheelchair rugby events at the Games will take place at the University of Science and Technology gym from 12-16 September.

Squad: Alan Ash, Andy Barrow, Jonathan Coggan, Troye Collins, Chris Ellis, Justin Frishberg, Bulbul Hussain, Ross Morrison, Steve Palmer, Josie Pearson, Jason Roberts, Mandip Sehmi.